Organized Baby Closet - Ikea Hack

In an effort to be more organized I decided to spend a weekend building some affordable storage solutions.

I purchased 3 Kallax shelves from Ikea:

• Two 1x4 cubes
• One 2x2 cubes

Also purchased 3 adjustable clothing bars, bar wall brackets and laminate boards to make a top shelf from the hardware store.

After putting together the Ikea shelves, I put one of the 1x4 cubes horizontal on the ground.  I put the second 1x4 vertical on one end of the horizonal shelf.  Screw the shelves together so there is no risk of tipping or moving.

I positioned the new L shaped cube unit on one side of the closet and the 2x2 cubes on the other side.  I chose not to screw them together in case I want to pull out the smaller cubes in the future.

I used two laminated boards, the widest I could buy, as top shelves.  I used scrap trim to make a small ledge/bracket on the side walls of the closet.   I screwed the shelves into the top of the L shaped cube and the brackets on the sides.  By doing so I ensured the unit won't tip forward.

Attach clothing bars in desired location and voila!  Plenty of space to hang baby clothes, store toys, diapers, etc.  An organized girls dream!

The best part is storage cubes from Thirty-One gives fit perfectly in these cubes!

Dreaming of Baby

I bought a new house with the plan to become a single mom by choice.  Before I start with the getting pregnant process I wanted to try a fun wall treatment in the room that I hope to be the nursery.  After reading lots of blogs on pinterest, I decided board and batten was the way to go.  Keep in mind I did this entire project by myself.  I never had an extra set of hands to help so don't be afraid to tackle this one on your own!  Girl power!

Supplies/Prep:

• Air compressor and nail gun - trust me - you want a nail gun!  I bought them together in a starter set.  Don't forget to purchase brad nails for the gun - the set comes with some, but I needed another package
• Miter Saw - I'm a DeWalt fan and have the DW713.  You can find it here.  It's very easy to use.
• Caulking and caulk gun
• Paint

• Measure all of your walls and decide how far apart you want your vertical boards to be.  I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted but knew somewhere between 12-18 inches would be perfect.  Figure out how many vertical boards you will need for each wall.  Keep in mind you want to avoid any plugs for simplicity's sake.
• I did not use flat boards behind the vertical strips which would have made it true board and batten.  The texture isn't too deep on my walls and I didn't care that it wouldn't be completely smooth. 
• Decide the height you want your chair rail.  Measure the distance between the bottom of the chair rail and your baseboard.  That is the length you will want your vertical boards to be cut. 
• I used lattice boards for the vertical boards - they were the perfect width and the cheapest thing available at the hardware store.  I had the store cut ALL of my vertical boards to the correct length.  Keep in mind, your boards will be close in length but off by up to .25 inches.  I'm a perfectionist but decided this route was much better than me cutting each board individually.  Plus, it made it easy to put everything in my car!
• I used 3 inch molding for the chair rail.  I debated putting a ledge on the top of the rail but decided against it.

Get to work!

• I had to decide exactly how far apart to put my vertical boards so I laid them out on the wall in varying distances.  15 inches turned out just perfect to avoid all of my outlets and work well with the corners.  Keep in mind that the actual distance between the sides of the boards is actually less than the measurement if you take into account the width of the boards.  Cut a piece of scrape wood to the correct measurement and use it as a spacer. 
• Because I was working alone, I put up the vertical boards first.  I used the spacer I made to place the bottom of the board and a level to make sure it was straight up.  A 3-4 nails in each board is all you need.  Because the windows are opposite of the door I started the vertical boards there to make sure they were centered on the windows.  I put 4-5 nails in each board.

  

• Once the vertical boards are up it's time to do the chair rail.  The vertical boards make this super easy - just put the chair rail on top and the level on top of the chair rail boards.  Start nailing away.  You will need to make mitered cuts in the corners, if you aren't sure how to do that I suggest a little research - it was my first time mitering and it was fairly simple.  I do have to angles in this room that were tricky and took some trial and error.

• The process that takes the longest is caulking and puttying.  I put putty over all of the nail holes and caulked all the edges of the vertical boards and chair rail.  Don't skip this step- it gives the whole room the finished look.
• I painted the gray first and then the white.  In hindsight, paint the lighter color first!  

I love the finished product.  Stay tuned for a post about the finished and decorated nursery!

Oak Table Refinishing

I found this great little table for just $30 on Craigslist and decided to try my hand at chalk paint.  I found that the actual painting is super simple, the waxing is a little bit trickier, but very forgiving!  Here are my step by step instructions:

• Clean the table with warm soapy water to remove any dirt and grime

 

STAINING:

• Start sanding - this is what took the longest.  I wanted a nice clean surface to work with because I decided to stain the top.  Because I was chalk painting the rest, I only had to sand the top. 
• Start with a course grit and work your way down to very fine.  I used an orbital sander similar to this one.  I also used sanding blocks similar to this one from 3M.  I love these because they really get in the nooks and crannies.  I especially liked how it work around the edges where I didn't want to sand off the detail, but needed to get into the corner.
• I discovered that my table was not solid wood when I hit MDF.  Don't sand that far!  I was able to cover it up with stain but it did create a lot of extra work.
• Once I was finished sanding I used tack cloth to clean up the dust and was ready for stain.
• I selected Minwax wood finish in the darkest color I could find at my local hardware store.
• Apply stain following the instructions on the can.  I had to let extra stain just sit in the MDF spots which was super stressful but in the end it turned out beautiful.  I lost track of how many coats I did of stain - I wanted the table dark!
• I chose to use Lacquer on the top instead of polyurethane or varnish mainly because it resists water rings.  I'm using this table in the casual dining area and don't want to ever worry about the finish.  I did 3 coats of clear lacquer on the top and then got to work on the chalk painting!

First coat of stain

I just kept adding more coats of stain until I got the color I wanted.

CHALK PAINT:

I do not claim to be an expert after just one experience.  I'm listing what I did but I highly recommend reading through some blogs that have a lot better tips and pointers.  I found this one very helpful.

• I chose Annie Sloan paint in antique white because I have heard so many good things about the brand.  It is a bit more expensive than others available, and I don't know if it's really worth it because I've not used anything else.  I will say, I love the results.
• Painting was very simple and the coats dried quickly.  I only did 2 coats and thought it was covered well.  I used a natural bristle brush for the paint and it covered smoothly without too many brush marks.  Any marks were covered with the second coat of paint.  
• Wax - I also used Annie Sloan clear wax.  It goes on simply enough following the instructions on the can.  You really have to work it using small amounts, otherwise it gets sticky.  I used a plastic knife to take out some wax which is the consistency of crisco.  I then used a wax brush to dab into the wax and spread on the paint in circles. 
•  I apparently used too much wax and even after buffing was left with a sticky table.  The instructions on the can said to apply more which would soften the already hardened wax and allow me to rework it.  I followed the instructions and was left with a less sticky table.  I definitely learned my lesson - less is more with the wax!  I finished the table a year ago and it's still a little tacky but doesn't seem to be attracting dirt or anything. 

After first coat of chalk paint - a little streaky

All in all I love how this table turned out and everyone compliments it when they visit my home.  Super simple and easy!


 

Window Frosting

For some strange reason, having clear front door windows was an upgrade on my new house. Sadly, I bought the house once it was completed so it was too late to change this. My solution - spray paint frosting. I knew from experience that contact paper type frosting is next to impossible to apply well. I'm a perfectionist so the edges need to be clean and wrinkles will drive me insane.


I used Valspar brand Frost spray paint but you use a different brand like this one.  I taped off the windows and used newspaper on the ground around the windows for overspray.  I ended up using 3 coats per window to even out the lines.  I only did the inside of the windows  I was happy with the coverage and viewing from the outside the paint looked smooth. 


I did the same technique on the windows in my garage.  The paint lets in plenty of light but provides for privacy.  It's been about 11 months and I do now see in the garage the paint has cracked.  You have to get close to see the cracks and my guess is because of the fluctuation of temperature.  I actually like the way it looks.


I haven't ever tried to clean the frosted portion and my guess is it would cause streaks/damage to the paint. 

View from the outside

I love how good it looks!

Craft Paint storage

I'm in love with my new craft paint storage. I used to keep the paints in a drawer which was a pain because I could never tell what paint colors I had just at a glance. With this new system I can easily see what I have and what I need.


These were very simple to put together with things I already had. I had some old modular wire shelves like these that I haven't been using.  For each shelf I used two panels.  I purchased 4 wood spools per shelf at Michael's and painted them white.  I realized I needed something in the back between the panel and the wall to allow for the lid of the paints.  I had some chunks of wood that had a hole in them already.  My back up plan was to cut a cork in half and put a hole in it. 


I used wire that I had around the house to attach the panels to the spool and wood pieces.  Easy peasy.  Some simple ribbon made hangers and the project is done!

Pallet Wall Instructions

After almost a year in my new house I finally got around to doing a pallet wall in my first floor powder room. I gathered a number of pallets from Craigslist and had them stored in my backyard.


Having never tackled a wood project like this one I had to start with tools. I already owned this nail gun and compressor here


I also already own a compound miter saw. Any saw you can use to cut down the length of your boards will work - I just happen to already have this one.


I purchased a reciprocating saw because I wanted to make the pallets as easy to cut up as possible (I am several months pregnant!) and I wanted to preserve the nail heads in the wood. I was really going for a distressed and old look to the wood - keeping the nailheads intact was key. This is the saw that I ended up with here
Next, I needed supplies: 1 quart of the cheapest interior black paint they had at the hardware store Nails for the nail gun - I used 1.75 inch, Dish soap,  nylon brush and Clear wood stain.
Onto the actual project!

It took only a couple of hours to cut up 4 pallets using the reciprocating saw. I did this by myself with the pallets propped up. I've never used a reciprocating saw before and it was pretty simple. I had a blade that was multipurpose for wood and metal making the job a snap. Once I had the boards off I used a nylon brush and warm soapy water to scrub down both sides of each board. I knew they would be dirty but they were really gross - do not skip this step! I let the boards dry overnight then moved on to staining. I wanted to maintain the natural variances in wood and purposefully used pallets of different colors, so I chose a clear stain. I only stained one side of the boards and all of the edges. It took me a few weeks but I finally had time to do the fun part of the project. I took down the mirror and painted the wall black. I didn't pay much attention to how good it looked and I only brought the paint to 1-2 inches from the corners. I'm an instant gratification sort of girl so I got this done as fast as possible.


 

After the paint was dry I used chalk to generally mark the studs in the wall. I chose not to use any glue because I didn't want to ruin the drywall. The only thing holding my wall up is nails and it is quite secure. Starting from the bottom - I just started putting up boards using the nail gun. The only thing I paid much attention to was making sure each board on the row was the same width. I used a level for each row but you will find the boards are warped and thus never just perfect. There were a couple of places on the wall that I thought might drive me nuts because they aren't perfect - but those are the spots I love the most now. I struggled cutting around the water lines for the toilet and sink because the builder hadn't left a lot of space in the lines to pull back the covers. If you look close they look crappy, but why are you looking that close at the toilet water lines? The entire wall only took a couple of hours to put up. I made sure I had 3 nails on each board per stud. I rehung the mirror and voila, a beautiful bathroom. Now when I use the room I'm still in awe at how cool it turned out!